Debuff Master

Chapter 487

It took Siegfried a few hours to reach the dungeon entrance. It was already dark by the time he arrived, but there were still droves of Adventurers in front of it.

As expected, a new dungeon was bound to be so famous regardless of whether it was day or night.

However, Siegfried noticed that the Adventurers were busy gossiping about something the moment he appeared in front of the entrance.

“Hey, did you hear that?”

“Yeah, I heard he wiped the floor with Descartes!”

“And in under a minute, too!”

“He won against a Ranker? Just how strong is he?”

“I heard Descartes dropped something expensive.”

“Not only that, he got extorted items worth fourteen billion won!”

“Hey, don’t forget that guy dissolved an item worth eighteen billion won.”

“What?! I-Is he the devil...?”

“How is the devil playing the game...?”

“Crazy... Is he picking a fight with the United Guild?”

Every single pair of eyes was focused on Siegfried after rumors of him completely destroying Descartes and extorting him of his items spread.

“S-Siegfried-nim...? I think everyone is talking about you,” Gosran whispered.

“Damn... What am I supposed to do with this fame?” Siegfried muttered in response while scratching the back of his head.

“I don’t think that’s the point!” Gosran retorted.

“T-Then?”

“Yes, you did become famous because of this, but don’t you realize you’re now in danger?! The United Guild is going to come running anytime soon!”

“Oh no, that’s indeed a problem. Things might get hectic if they do come,” Siegfried replied with a straight face. His words and expressions did not match right now. He was saying it was a problem, but he looked quite calm while saying it.

“This is a big problem, Siegfried-nim. The United Guild is—”

“Ah, let’s not think about that right now.”

“Siegfried-nim...”

“Worry about things when they happen! Why should we worry about something that hasn’t happened when we have other things to worry about?”

“...”

“You’re free to play it safe if you’re scared of the United Guild. I won’t hold it against you even if you do so.”

“Siegfried-nim!”

“Hahaha!” Siegfried laughed out loud before heading to where Quandt was located.

“Hmm? What brings you here at this hour? I guess something big must have happened for you to come this late at night,” Quandt said while rubbing his eyes. He seemed perplexed by the sudden visit at the dead of the night.

“Here,” Siegfried replied by putting down the sack filled with the one thousand Green Otherworldly Essences on the ground.

Thud!

“What?! D-Don’t tell me...! Did you manage to collect all one thousand?!”

“Can’t you tell even after seeing this? Hoho!”

“Ooooh!” Quandt gasped in delight after seeing the sack filled with the Green Otherworldly Essences. Then, he exclaimed, “Excellent! I’ll study this new material right away!”

“How long will it take?”

“It won’t take long since I have all the samples I need! I’ll finish it by tomorrow morning, so don’t worry and just wait for me! Bwahahaha! The patent for this material now belongs to the Bavarian Workshop! Eat this you damned Autonika bastards! Kiss my ass you arrogant Mercedes bastards!” Quandt roared with absolute glee, failing to contain his excitement.

Ironically, it seemed he was more delighted by the fact that he was able to deal a blow to the Autonika Workshop and the Mercedes Workshop rather than getting the patent for the new material itself.

“Thank you! As expected, you’re the best! I will definitely craft an artifact made from this new material just for you once I’m done researching!”

“I'm looking forward to it.”

“Alright, why don’t you go take a break since you worked so hard?”

“No,” Siegfried shook his head. Then, he smirked and said, “Resting comes later.”

“Aren’t you tired?”

“I am.”

“Then why don’t you rest? Do you have other urgent matters to attend to?”

Siegfried smiled icily and said, “Ah, I have business with the Autonika Workshop.”

He said that due to the fact that Descartes received the same sample collection quest from the Autonika Workshop. However, it seemed Quandt got the completely wrong idea.

“A-Autonika Workshop?! What business do you have with those bastards?!”

“Huh?”

“I told you not to speak to them—no, not to even look at them!”

Ding!

A message popped up in front of Siegfried’s eyes.

[Alert: Quandt is jealous!]

[Alert: His Affinity toward you has turned into Obsession!]

Siegfried was speechless after seeing Quandt’s Affinity rank.

‘Why would this old dwarf be obsessed with me?! What the hell did I do to deserve this?!’ Siegfried raged inwardly.

He was a healthy young man, so he would be flatter yet slightly burdened if a beautiful NPC expressed their love for him. However, having burly old rugged men profess their love for him made him feel repulsed.

He could not tell if his title caused old men to get attracted to him or if it was something he was doing that was attracting them.

“Don’t mind it. I just have some personal business with them.”

“D-Don’t mind it? How can I not mind it?!”

“I already told you that it’s personal business.”

“Personal?! What personal business do you have with them?” Quandt retorted. Then, he took a step back and despaired, “D-don’t tell me... Were you seeing those bastards behind my back?!”

“What do you mean by seeing them?!”

“Damn it!”

“Oh? Did you just get mad at me?”

“N-No, I didn’t get mad! I just think those bastards are playing with your feelings, so I got worked up! But why are you seeing them? Are they that good? How far did you go with them?!”

“Hey! That. Is. None. Of. Your. Business!”

“D-Did you just... say that to me...?” Quandt stuttered, looking shocked by what he heard. Then, tears started welling up from his eyes as he said, “W-What am I to you...?”

“H-Hey, that’s not what I meant...!” Siegfried said hurriedly. He was surprised to see the old dwarf suddenly tear up from what he said, and he tried his best to calm Quandt down.

“It’s not what you think it is...”

“Then what is it? It looks like that to me!”

“Please calm down. There’s really nothing between me and them.”

“Enough... I don’t want to hear your excuses...”

“Damn it!”

“I’m not sure how far you went with them, but I hope...”

“I really didn’t do anything with them!”

The two continued their love quarrel for quite a while after that, and their quarrel caused Gosran to have the wrong idea regarding their relationship.

‘No way...! Is he in a relationship with Quandt...?!’ Gosran was flabbergasted by the scene. She could not be blamed for thinking that way, as the conversation between the two was something others would completely misunderstand.

***

Thirty minutes later, Siegfried finally recounted what happened to Quandt and managed to calm him down before going to the Autonika Workshop’s mobile workshop.

“Argh! That old dwarf is so annoying!” Siegfried raged on the way.

“P-Please calm down, hyung-nim. Quandt-nim likes you a lot; that’s why he reacted that way,” Seung-Gu tried his best to placate him.

“Hey! Does that look like liking to you? That’s already an obsession! It’s tiring to have someone obsessed with you!”

“Y-Yeah, you’re right...”

“I thought I was going to die from frustration when he said he wanted to tag along instead of researching the new material. Argh!”

Siegfried had explained how the Autonika Workshop was involved in the incident between him and Descartes in hopes of reassuring Quandt, but it only got the old dwarf worked up. The old dwarf even grabbed his axe and swore to butcher the Autonika Workshop’s blacksmiths.

His jealousy and rage caused him to completely forget about the Green Otherworldly Essences.

“Geez... I really can’t catch a break,” Siegfried grumbled about Quandt until he reached his destination.

“I’m going to settle things here, so you can go log out and rest, Seung-Gu. Ah, you too, Gosran-nim.”

The others logged out first while Hamchi was already fast asleep. Siegfried placed Hamchi in his pocket before approaching the mobile workshop of the Autonika Workshop.

“How may I help you?”

“Who’s in charge here?”

“Lancepot is in charge. He is the tenth-ranking blacksmith of our workshop.”

“Hmm... His rank is too low.”

Siegfried would not have said such a thing usually, but he ended up saying it due to his ill encounter with Descartes.

“Sorry?”

“Lead the way. I want to have a word with me.”

“Excuse me but... Who are you?”

“I’m Siegfried van Proa.”

“By Siegfried van Proa you mean—Ack! P-Please wait a moment! I will immediately report this to Lancepot!”

Two minutes later.

“Welcome! Your Majesty! It is an honor to have a person like you visit our lowly workshop!” Lancepot greeted him with open arms.

“Really?”

“Would you like a cup of hot tea? It is quite cold tonight.”

The Great Jungle's temperature would drop at night, so Lancepot offered a cup of hot tea to Siegfried. However, Siegfried refused the offer and immediately went straight to business.

“Forget about the tea. I have something I want to ask you.”

“What is it, Your Majesty?”

“Is this how your workshop does things? Don’t you know what fair play is?”

“W-What does Your Majesty mean by—”

“Are you feigning ignorance with me right now?”

“P-Pardon me?”

“You know the Adventurer Descartes, right?”

“Ah, yes, Your Majesty. We have requested him to collect the new material samples for us.”

“Do you know what he did to me?”

“Hmm?”

“Ah, acting innocent now, are we? Do I really have to say it with my own lips?”

“Y-Your Majesty...? I am having a hard time understanding what is going on. May you kindly explain things to me in detail?”

“Ha! So you do want me to say it with my own mouth! Fine, if that’s what you want...” Siegfried said with a scoff and proceeded to list in detail the despicable things Descartes did to him.

***

“O-Oh my god!” Lancepot cried out in horror and staggered backward. He did not imagine the Adventurer he tasked to collect the Green Otherworldly Essences would do such a despicable thing just to get ahead of others.

“I-Is this true?!”

“Yeah, and there were many witnesses.”

“Heok!”

“Oh? Pretending innocent again, are we? I think this is what you call cutting your tail?” Siegfried sneered on purpose.

‘It’s not important whether you did it knowingly or you had no idea,’ Siegfried thought with a smirk. What was important to him was the fact that the actions of the Autonika Workshop had affected him, and he was going to hold them responsible for their actions.

“N-No, Your Majesty! We are not cutting anything! Our workshop is not going to stoop that low just to get the patent for a new material! Believe me!”

“Really? Then how will you explain what Descartes did to me?”

“T-That is his own actions as an Adventurer and his actions do not represent our workshops—”

“Do you really think that people will think like that?”

“W-What?!”

“Do you think people will just accept it as an Adventurer going rogue if I spread news of what happened to me because of your workshop? Or do you think people will start saying that your workshop is one that would do all sorts of despicable things just to get ahead of their competitors?”

“...!”

“I hope you will make the right judgment,” Siegfried said, hinting that Lancepot should make the right choice, which was something that would benefit Siegfried. Otherwise, the workshop’s reputation was going to plummet to the ground.

‘D-Damn it! This is not something I can decide on my own...! The reputation of the workshop is on the line here!’ Lancepot was well aware of how important reputation was on the continent.

The Autonika Workshop and the Bavarian Workshop had a long history of animosity between them, and the people were definitely going to believe that they did something despicable just to get ahead of their rivals and snatch the patent in front of their eyes.

What was going to be the consequence of that?

Their reputation was going to plummet to the sewers, and they would be regarded as inferior to the Bavarian Workshop. No matter how superior their artifacts were, people were still going to think that they were only superior thanks to the despicable tricks they had pulled rather than the quality of their artifacts.

‘That’s it. I want you to think of the consequences. Mwahaha! It’s quite the pinch you’re in, right? Your reputation is going to come crashing down as soon as I say a single word! If I poke him a little bit more then...’ Siegfried could see right through Lancepot.

Siegfried had become so shrewd that he had transcended from being a clever weasel to a mind-reading sorcerer or something like that.

“I think the Autonika Workshop worked together with the Adventurer, Descartes, to do—” Siegfried said.

Lancepot hurriedly cut him off while waving both hands, “No, Y-Your Majesty! That is far from the truth! Your Majesty! Please do not misunderstand what happened!”

“Then what are you going to do about it? I’ve already suffered losses because of your actions, so how are you going to take responsibility?”

“T-That is... I am not authorized to discuss this matter with Your Majesty so—”

“Should I lodge a formal complaint to the World Peace Conference?!”

“Y-Your Majesty! Please wait! I will immediately report this matter to our headquarters and see to it that you get compensated for your troubles!”

‘Yes!’ Siegfried cheered inside.

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